Portal:Wetlands

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Wetlands Portal

Introduction

A wetland is a land area that is saturated with water, either permanently or seasonally, such that it takes on the characteristics of a distinct ecosystem. The primary factor that distinguishes wetlands from other land forms or water bodies is the characteristic vegetation of aquatic plants, adapted to the unique hydric soil. Wetlands play a number of roles in the environment, principally water purification, flood control, carbon sink and shoreline stability. Wetlands are also considered the most biologically diverse of all ecosystems, serving as home to a wide range of plant and animal life. Wetlands occur naturally on every continent except Antarctica, the largest including the Amazon River basin, the West Siberian Plain, and the Pantanal in South America. The water found in wetlands can be freshwater, brackish, or saltwater. The main wetland types include swamps, marshes, bogs, and fens; and sub-types include mangrove, carr, pocosin, and varzea.

The UN Millennium Ecosystem Assessment determined that environmental degradation is more prominent within wetland systems than any other ecosystem on Earth. International conservation efforts are being used in conjunction with the development of rapid assessment tools to inform people about wetland issues.

Constructed wetlands can be used to treat municipal and industrial wastewater as well as stormwater runoff and they also play a role in water-sensitive urban design.

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Peat gatherers at Westhay, Somerset Levels in 1905

Peat is an accumulation of partially decayed vegetation or organic matter that is unique to natural areas called peatlands, bogs, or mires. The peatland ecosystem is the most efficient carbon sink on the planet because peatland plants capture the CO₂ which is naturally released from the peat, thus maintaining an equilibrium. In natural peatlands, the "annual rate of biomass production is greater than the rate of decomposition", but it takes "thousands of years for peatlands to develop the deposits of 1.5 to 2.3 m, which is the average depth of the boreal peatlands". One of the most common components is Sphagnum moss, although many other plants can contribute. Soils that contain mostly peat are known as histosols. Peat forms in wetland conditions, where flooding obstructs flows of oxygen from the atmosphere, slowing rates of decomposition.

Peatlands, also known as mires, particularly bogs, are the most important source of peat, but other less common wetland types also deposit peat, including fens, pocosins, and peat swamp forests. Other words for lands dominated by peat include moors or muskegs. Landscapes covered in peat also have specific kinds of plants, particularly Sphagnum moss, ericaceous shrubs, and sedges (see bog for more information on this aspect of peat). Since organic matter accumulates over thousands of years, peat deposits also provide records of past vegetation and climates stored in plant remains, particularly pollen. Hence, they allow humans to reconstruct past environments and changes in human land use. (Full article...)

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The following are images from various wetland-related articles on Wikipedia.

Image 1Peat bog and peat to dry, L'Isle-aux-Coudres, Quebec, Canada, 1976 (from Bog)
Image 2A black alder swamp in Germany (from Swamp)
Image 3Many species of evergreen shrub are found in bogs, such as Labrador tea. (from Bog)
Image 4Avaste Fen, Estonia. Sedges dominate the landscape, woody shrubs and trees are sparse. (from Fen)
Image 5A raised bog in Ķemeri National Park, Jūrmala, Latvia, formed approximately 10,000 years ago in the postglacial period and now a tourist attraction. (from Bog)
Image 6Bud of water lotus (Nelumbo nucifera), an aquatic plant. (from Wetland)
Image 7Tourbière du Lac-à-la-Tortue (fr), ombrotrophic, Quebec, Canada (from Bog)
Image 8An expanse of wet Sphagnum bog in Frontenac National Park, Quebec, Canada. Spruce trees can be seen on a forested ridge in the background. (from Bog)
Image 9Sphagnum with northern pitcher plants at Brown's Lake Bog, Ohio, US (from Bog)
Image 10A bog in Lauhanvuori National Park, Isojoki, Finland (from Bog)
Image 11Spaulding Fen, Wisconsin. (from Fen)
Image 12Pantanal in Brazil (from Swamp)
Image 13Snapping turtles are one of the many kinds of turtles found in wetlands. (from Wetland)
Image 14Marshlands are often noted within wetlands, as seen here at the Jamaica Bay Wildlife Refuge in New York City. (from Wetland)
Image 15The Sitniki peat bog in Russia recultivated after industrial use (from Bog)
Image 16Swamp in southern Louisiana (from Swamp)
Image 17Vernal pools are ponded only during the wetter part of the year. (from Marsh)
Image 18Wetland at the Broadmoor Wildlife Sanctuary in Massachusetts, United States, in February (from Wetland)
Image 19The Linnaistensuo Mire, a nature reserve swamp in Lahti, Finland. (from Swamp)
Image 20Marsh in shallow water on a lakeshore (from Marsh)
Image 21Humid wetland in Pennsylvania before a rain. (from Wetland)
Image 22Kakerdaja Fen, Estonia (from Fen)
Image 23Wetlands contrast the hot, arid landscape around Middle Spring, Fish Springs National Wildlife Refuge, Utah (from Wetland)
Image 24Aerial view of prairie potholes (from Marsh)
Image 25Marshlands are often noted within wetlands, as seen here in the New Jersey Meadowlands at Lyndhurst, New Jersey, U.S. (from Marsh)
Image 26Sunrise at Viru Bog, Estonia (from Wetland)
Image 27Precipitation accumulates in many bogs, forming bog pools, such as Koitjärve bog in Estonia. (from Bog)
Image 28A salt marsh in Scotland (from Marsh)
Image 29Many species of frogs live in wetlands, while others visit them each year to lay eggs. (from Wetland)
Image 30A small swamp in Padstow, New South Wales, Australia (from Swamp)
Image 31Bog-wood and boulders at the Stumpy Knowe near South Auchenmade, Ayrshire, Scotland (from Bog)
Image 32Marsh Arabs poling a mashoof (from Swamp)
Image 33The wetlands of Cape May, New Jersey, U.S. comprise an extensive hydrological network that makes them an ornithologically important location to study the many birds which use the preserve as a place to nest. (from Wetland)
Image 34Carnivorous plants, such as this Sarracenia purpurea pitcher plant of the eastern seaboard of North America, are often found in bogs. Capturing insects provides nitrogen and phosphorus, which are usually scarce in such conditions. (from Bog)
Image 35Inside a mangrove canopy, Salt Pan Creek, New South Wales (from Swamp)
Image 36Many kinds of birds nest in marshes; this one is a yellow-headed blackbird. (from Marsh)
Image 37Fog rising over the Mukri bog near Mukri, Estonia. The bog has an area of 2,147 hectares (5,310 acres) and has been protected since 1992. (from Wetland)
Image 38Viru Bog in Lahemaa National Park, Estonia, which is rich in raised bogs (from Bog)
Image 39Dernford Fen, Cambridgeshire (from Fen)
Image 40Sphagnum moss and sedges can produce floating bog mats along the shores of small lakes. This bog in Duck Lake, Oregon, US, supports populations of English sundew (Drosera anglica). (from Bog)
Image 41A marsh in Jyväskylä, Finland (from Marsh)
Image 42A wet meadow adjacent to Big Bear Lake, San Bernardino Mountains, California (from Marsh)
Image 43A freshwater swamp in Florida, United States (from Swamp)
Image 44Aerial image of Carbajal Valley peat bogs, Tierra del Fuego Province, Argentina (from Bog)
Image 45Difference between swamp and marsh (from Swamp)
Image 46Blanket bog in Connemara, Ireland (from Bog)
Image 47Bog with October morning mist in Mukri, Estonia (from Bog)
Image 48Small extreme rich fen in southwestern Minnesota. The white flowers, Parnassia glauca, are a fen indicator species in Minnesota. (from Fen)
Image 49A bog in Ostfriesland (from Bog)
Image 50Sugar Fen, Norfolk (from Fen)
Image 51White water lilies are a typical marsh plant in European areas of deeper water. (from Marsh)
Image 52Wicken Fen, England. Grasses in the foreground are typical of a fen. (from Fen)

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Nelumbo nucifera

Credit: User:RebexArt

Lotus flower in Beijing Yuan-Ming Garden.

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Did you know...

... that marshes are often on the edges of lakes, where they form a transition between the aquatic and terrestrial systems?

(Pictured left: Macoun Marsh.)

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